Housing association New Charter Homes has secured two five-year contracts to help reduce homelessness in Tameside.

The social landlord, which owns around 16,500 homes across Greater Manchester, has been successful in retaining its contracts with Tameside Council to deliver its statutory homelessness duties and supported temporary accommodation.

Through Tameside Housing Advice, New Charter will continue to support customers who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

This involves triage and casework, and in the past 12 months the service has prevented 900 people from becoming homeless.

The supported temporary accommodation contract will provide people with short-term housing followed by help to settle back into the community.

The service will work with Tameside Housing Advice and New Charter’s existing domestic abuse and family support projects and will include training and employment opportunities, tenancy support and health awareness.

New Charter is currently working with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the wider Greater Manchester Housing Providers group on a homelessness strategy for the region.

Kerrie Pryde, New Charter’s Assistant Director of Commercial and Partnership Services said: “Helping to reduce homelessness has always been a top priority for us and we’ve been delivering results on behalf of Tameside Council for more than 16 years now.

“We’re proud that our achievements are continuing to be recognised through the renewal of these important contracts and we’re looking forward to discussing a Greater Manchester-wide strategy with our housing colleagues and the new Mayor.”

Cllr Ged Cooney, Tameside Council’s executive director with responsibility for housing and homelessness, added: “I am delighted that New Charter is to continue to work with us over the next five years to continue to reduce homelessness.

“Tameside Council and New Charter have built up a very productive partnership and I’m sure we’ll be able to improve on it. It is a partnership that plays a key role in tackling homelessness and I am sure it will go on to do even better work.”

As we announced yesterday, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, celebrated the completion of 55 new affordable family homes with tenants and local school children in Tameside yesterday by planting an Apple Tree.

The tree marked the completion of New Charter Homes’ £5.9m Coleridge Close development in Ashton which will provide a mix of one, two and three-bedroom homes for affordable rent and is part of the housing association’s drive to help solve the housing crisis.

Surrounded by residents and pupils from Canon Johnson C of E Primary School, Andy Burnham said, “We are working hard along with housing providers to make sure that truly affordable housing is available to all and these new homes will help to provide this in Ashton.

“Greater Manchester needs housing that is affordable and I would welcome more of these developments.”

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham will celebrate the completion of 55 new affordable family homes with tenants and local school children in Tameside today.

New Charter Homes’ £5.9m Coleridge Close development in Ashton provides a mix of one, two and three-bedroom homes for affordable rent and is part of the housing association’s drive to help solve the housing crisis.

Mayor Andy Burnham will join pupils from Canon Johnson C of E Primary School to mark the occasion by plant planting apple trees at the site.

The trees for the orchard have been provided by City of Trees as part of its ambition to plant 3 million trees across Greater Manchester; a tree for every man, woman and child in the region.

Beth Kelsall, City of Trees comments, “We were delighted to work on this project and establish a community orchard as part of the new development. We hope this will create a fruitful forest for the future and benefit generations to come”.

Coleridge Close has attracted praise from several politicians including Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and local MP Angela Rayner who visited the site earlier in the year.

TEN Hattersley and Mottram residents are celebrating after passing their Construction Skills Certification Schemeexam (CSCS) thanks to help from Peak Valley Housing Association.

The free-five-day CSCS course took place last week, which provides the card holder with proof that they have required training and qualifications to work on-site.

The training was hosted at the Hub off Stockport Road, and was made possible thanks to a partnership between Peak Valley, Tameside MBC and Barrett’s, funded by their employment & training fund created through land sales back in 2007.

The course was delivered by NSPP Vocational Training, which saw 10 residents receive their card on the day, opening the door to a range of on-site opportunities in the construction industry.

Craig O’Reilly aged 32, from Hattersley said: “I’m made up. I’ve got a CSCS card and I’m on a plastering course for 13 weeks starting Monday. I’m buzzing. Thanks very much to you guys for doing this.”

Course Organiser and Community Development Officer Sam Cooper, said, “The course has been a great success, we intend to continue our support to help match those who passed the CSCS test with local construction businesses and are looking to not only provide more CSCS opportunities but experiment with other industry standard courses.”

The Hub is now running a range of skills courses including food hygiene and level 1 English, Maths and IT. If you would like to learn more please email: samuel.cooper@pvha.co.uk or telephone 0161 366 3933.

The skip day was organised by Peak Valley Housing Association, to help tenants dispose of any bulky items.

The tidy-up took place last Wednesday (2nd August) and residents braved the summer showers to have a good clear out.

A large skip was positioned on Phillip Way, and unwanted household items included old mattresses, sofa and a bike.

Peak Valley Neighbourhood Manager, Sharon Dawson, said: ‘The skips are a good opportunity for customers to have a good clear out and we are pleased that so many people braved the rain, got involved, and got rid of unwanted items.

We plan to host more skip days in the near future, so if you would like to bid for a skip in your area, please get in touch with your neighbourhood officer.’

Hattersley Community Garden volunteers recently came together to celebrate the gardens official unveiling.

The special event took place on 22nd July, and those attending were treated to a host of free family fun activities.

The event was funded in partnership with the community volunteers and Peak Valley Housing Association (PVHA), in celebration of the completion of the gardens refurbishment project, which aimed to bring the disused space back into use following its closure back in 2010.

Party guests got to take a tour of the new crops, and have a go at seed planting.

Whilst the youngsters were entertained with swing ball, slides, and a bouncy castle.

The event was attended and opened officially by The Worshipful the Civic Mayor of Tameside, Councillor Joyce Bowerman.

Live music was provided courtesy of Hattersley Brass Band.

Sam Cooper, Community Investment Officer at PVHA said: “I am really impressed with the work the volunteers have put in to bring the site back to life. This community garden is a great asset to the people of Hattersley, and I hope even more people get involved to keep it going long into the future.”

Community Garden Volunteer and Peak Valley resident Simon Davison of Bunkershill Road, said, “I didn’t do much gardening before I got involved as a volunteer at the community garden, but now I’m growing all my own fruit and vegetables. We have had courgettes, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and this year I’ve also got some corn and chillies going for the first time.”

Hattersley Community Garden is open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (11 – 2pm) If you’re a Hattersley or Mottram resident and would like to volunteer and the opportunity of your own patch, please contact HMV.babs@sky.com

A key milestone at the Summers Quay development in Stalybridge, east Manchester was reached yesterday (Friday 28th July 2017) when local MP for Stalybridge and Hyde Jonathan Reynolds was invited to take part in a steel signing ceremony.

Summers Quay is a private “build to rent” regeneration development of 67 new homes in the centre of Stalybridge and is the first, and largest, private rented development to be undertaken by housing provider New Charter Group, through its commercial property arm, Cavendish Property Developments.

The steel signing, held to celebrate the final beam of the steel frame for the structure being put into place, was hosted by Cavendish Property Developments / New Charter Group and Rowlinsons Construction

Speaking at the ceremony Jonathan Reynolds MP said, “It’s an honour to be involved in marking this milestone in the Summers Quay development. The central location of this development makes it crucial to the continued regeneration of our brilliant, vibrant town. Stalybridge dearly needs a mix of new housing. These apartments will be quality, private rented accommodation delivered via a respected and responsible landlord. Cavendish Property Developments and New Charter Group are bringing a touch of luxury to canal side living. These new homes have it all -city centre style living, but with tremendous countryside views – and I know they will be in great demand.”

Tony Powell, Deputy Chief Executive at New Charter Group said,“Our private development arm Cavendish Property Developments has created a fantastic scheme here and we’re grateful to Jonathan Reynolds MP for helping us mark this milestone in what is its first ‘build to rent’ development.”

“This is also an opportunity to thank our contractor Rowlinson and our professional team who have worked hard to bring this scheme to fruition. The design, undertaken by Pozzoni, and the construction are outstanding and we’re grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to the mix of housing types available in Stalybridge. We’re creating a statement building here in Stalybridge and also contributing to what is a relatively new market for luxury private rental accommodation.”

Located at Armentieres Square in the centre of Stalybridge in Tameside, east Manchester, Summers Quay consists of 22 one bedroom and 45 two bedroom apartments as well as 244 sq m of commercial and retail space.

The scheme started on site in August 2016 with completion planned for spring 2018 and is viewed as the next best thing in city centre lifestyle renting, offering canal-side, urban living within a sub-urban setting.

Cavendish Property Developments was set up by New Charter Group in 2013 to carry out private rent, shared ownership and rent to buy and for sale residential development projects. Summer Quay is being delivered in partnership with Rowlinson Construction and Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.

The social landlord fought off tough competition from private sector companies up and down the country and The University of Cambridge to win Digital Team of the Year at the Digital Technology Leaders Awards in London last night.

The award recognises the work of New Charter’s Business Transformation team in using digital solutions to address significant business challenges while continuing to deliver value for money and excellent customer service.

The team was commended on how it has responded to changing income streams following the Government’s new rent reduction rates.

Projects include a new customer portal for tenants to access services online and pay rent, partnerships with Tameside Council and the NHS to bring faster internet connections to tenants and businesses, new telephony systems and digital upgrades to back office processes to speed up and improve tenant-facing services.

New Charter Group owns around 19,500 homes across Greater Manchester and Nottingham as well as a successful building company, a homelessness charity and links to education through its sponsorship of academy schools.

On the night, judges said: “New Charter’s project showed a real impact in digitally transforming day-to-day business. The team are demonstrating a cultural shift in the whole-hearted adoption of digital.”

Samantha Young, New Charter’s Director of Business Transformation added: “We’re absolutely thrilled with this award and this is a fabulous achievement, showing New Charter’s commitment to transformational change. I feel proud that we’ve been able to show other sectors what housing associations can do.

“We have a great team with many different skills and our focus is always on changing how we work for the benefit of our tenants.”

Earlier this month, New Charter Group announced a merger with Adactus Housing Group to create a new company with more than 33,000 homes across the North West. The merger will happen later in the year.

A star-studded approach to improving neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester has won housing association New Charter Group national recognition.

Announced by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) at the sector’s annual conference in Manchester this week, New Charter has received official accreditation for its approach to tackling crime, unemployment and health inequalities in its communities.

The social landlord which owns 16,500 homes across Tameside, Oldham, Bury and Manchester is one of the first housing providers in the country to be awarded the CIH’s new Neighbourhood Charter.

The seal of approval acknowledges excellent partnership working and means New Charter’s model will be showcased as an example of best practice.

In 2012, New Charter developed new three-year “MaSTARplans” for its neighbourhoods based on a star-rated system of three to five stars, five being the best. Each neighbourhood is given a rating for its performance against a range of local issues and then an overall rating to help monitor its performance and target resources.

Tenants, staff and local partners including the police and NHS have helped to design the plans and as a result, 22 of New Charter Group’s neighbourhoods are now operating at a five star level.

The “MaSTARplans” also measure the level of rent arrears in an area and residents’ satisfaction with their neighbourhood.

Dave Smethurst from CIH Consultancy said: “New Charter’s neighbourhood working framework is one of the best in the sector as well as one of the most established. Originally developed to focus resources on neighbourhood sustainability it has now evolved to also look at service cost and viability in response to the changing context in the sector.”

“The framework itself incorporates a number of very strong elements in terms of its ability to identify issues, target resources and monitor performance. It has also benefitted from a few years of development by operational teams which have helped refine the approach.”

“New Charter’s model is a useful one for all organisations to study and should also be of particular interest to large scale voluntary transfer landlords because of its stock distribution.”

Emma Wilson, New Charter’s Executive Director of Neighbourhoods added: “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to achieve by getting real added value from joined up service delivery, which means we are making a difference in our neighbourhoods at a challenging time in housing.”

“I’m also delighted that our work has been recognised in this way and will be used as a model of best practice in housing.”

You can view New Charter Group’s neighbourhood MaSTARplans for Tameside here, and for Oldham here

After consistently strong rating performances in our first two seasons, the only online, daily up-dated website that brings visitors the latest local news, has expanding its regional reach.

Over the relatively short time from its inception in November 2013, Hyde Community Matters has developed from a Hyde centred glossy 24page ‘Community News Magazine’ thorough to December 2014 when we took the project online to become a daily up-dated online community news site, which to date has attracted well over 370,000 visitors, – all eager to read the local news; – and that number is still growing!

Now, in response to a number of requests to cover news and events from our friends in neighbouring towns and villages, we are pleased to announce that we have gently expanded our news coverage to provide a more comprehensive reader service by covering good news, events and achievements from individuals, communities and businesses, from a little further afield – no longer exclusively covering one town, but the whole of Tameside and the surrounding regions, and by doing so, we’re better placed to support our local advertisers growing development needs.

“Of all our current partners we spoke with, Karen Dorney of Hyde’s Paper Tulips understands the success and potential of our in-depth local news coverage; and as the owner of Tameside’s premier craft emporiums and organiser of monthly Artisan Markets, she is uniquely positioned to back our expansion, as it encourages potential customers from much wider areas,”

“While continuing to put our readers at the heart of everything we do; we are committed to continue to cover in-depth local news articles, showcase local events, shout about schools and student achievements and profile specialist real-life features that celebrate those individuals who have achieved success, shown courage against the odds, or people who are making a difference within our local communities.”

To reflect these changes, we have changed the name to one that better echo’s the new site’s expanded content.

“Our aim is still to provide the best online news specifically to our close communities, by offering a convenient, one-click, local source of timely daily up-dated news, where visitors come first for information and advice, local businesses place their adverts and community groups put us at the top of their list when promoting their up-coming events.”

A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR LOCAL BUDDYING AND EXPERIENCED JOURNALISTS

We believe that this online expansion marks a return to real local news, giving readers the chance to learn more about what’s going on in their immediate area and to read (and write) news stories about what matters to them. We are therefore looking for ANY VOLUNTEERS from the different areas, (who’d like to see their work in print) so that we can have a ‘person on the ground’ who is in closer touch in identifying local happenings and who would become the main point of contact for local people; – promoting the work of local community organisations, voluntary sector groups and businesses, along with arts, school successes, sport and cultural activities that are taking place in their area.

WHAT WE NEED:

Budding or experienced reporters, with access to email, who wish to gain experience or give back to their local community

To find and root out stories of particular interest to people in their area

To write, research and interview for those stories, to build content on the website.

We also need a ‘Social Media’ savvy person to place local stories and events on Facebook & Twitter etc’ to drive site traffic.

This is a great opportunity for local budding and experienced journalists to hone their writing skills.

This wider reader appeal also adds a much more expansive opportunity for local advertisers to reach a vastly expanded audience, and by widening our readership, we plan to gradually introduce extra relevant categories like jobs, motoring, housing, and domestic services, among other localized topics.

So, if you would like to become a volunteer local correspondent, or are a forward thinking Community Group, Local Business, School, Sports Club, Faith Group or Charity organisation and have stories you think are newsworthy, want to publicise your events, achievements, or wish to advertise to a growing local audience, please contact us directly by email: roger@localcommunitymatters.com

Local Community Matters is a not-for-profit community trust, run by volunteers all of whom have strong links to the towns and people surrounding Tameside.

Local Community Matters is a grass-roots non-profit organisation whose sole purpose is to produce a showcase magazine which celebrates local business and personal success and commemorates community spirit by featuring some of the people who make a real difference.